Escape

Emily Dickinson

I NEVER hear the word "escape"

Without a quicker blood,

A sudden expectation,

A flying attitude.

I never hear of prisons broad

by soldiers battered down,

But I tug childish at my bars--

Only to fail again!

逃亡

狄金森

我一聽說“ 逃亡”這個(gè)詞

血液就加快奔流,

一個(gè)突然的期望,

一個(gè)想飛的沖動(dòng)。

我從未聽說敞開的監(jiān)獄

被戰(zhàn)士們攻陷,

但我幼稚的用力拖我的圍欄–

只不過再失敗!

About the poet:

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Dickinson left no formal statement of her aesthetic intentions and, because of the variety of her themes, her work does not fit conveniently into any one genre. She has been regarded, alongside Emerson, as a Transcendentalist.The motifs in most of her poems are beauty, immotality and death. she lived a mostly introverted and reclusive life and became known for her penchant for white clothing and her reluctance to greet guests or, later in life, even leave her room. Most of her friendships were therefore carried out by correspondence.

Notes:

The feature of this poem is the extensive use of dashes and unconventional capitalization and the idiosyncratic vocabulary and imagery.